Suthar Batumalai

Family of executed brothers wants authorities to explain why they were hanged in a rush, with legal process not exhausted, says lawyer N Surendran. Pic from FMT News.

PETALING JAYA: The family of Rames and Suthar Batumalai, who were hanged four months ago over the murder of a man, is seeking explanations over their execution.

The family’s lawyer N Surendran, in a press conference today, said the family wants the Kajang prison authorities and the home ministry to explain why the execution was carried out without exhausting the legal process.

“When the execution was carried out, the outcome of the clemency petition was still pending. “A clemency petition is part of the legal process, not some discretion. It is not a privilege, but a legal right. Read more →

The UN Human Rights Office for South-East Asia condemned the executions of Malaysian brothers, Suthar Batumalai and B. Rames Batumalai, by hanging despite the submission of new evidence in the case.

The UN rights office said the judicial procedures in their case did not fulfill the most stringent guarantees of fair trial and due process.

The two brothers, who were convicted of murder in 2010, were hanged on Wednesday, despite the submission of a clemency petition last month containing new evidence in the case.

The men were granted a temporary stay of execution as a result of the petition.

“We are gravely concerned that executions of Suthar and B. Rames Batumalai went ahead, despite the pending decision by the Pardons Board on their clemency petition and the allegations that their trial did not meet international standards,” said Laurent Meillan, acting regional representative of the UN Human Rights Office for South-East Asia. Read more →

PETALING JAYA: The Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam) has called on the government to review the relevance of capital punishment, recommending for a moratorium on the death penalty.

Referring to the execution of brothers Rames and Suthar Batumalai on Wednesday, its chairman Tan Sri Razali Ismail opined that the mandatory death penalty must be abolished so that judges will be given discretionary powers for a convicted person.

“Suhakam reiterates that the mandatory imposition of the death penalty violates the basic right to life, as enshrined in international human rights law as it constitutes an arbitrary deprivation of life, as well as denies judges the possibility of taking into account the facts of the offence or the characteristics of each individual offender for the purposes of sentencing,” he said in a statement today. Read more →

MALAYSIAN authorities acted in violation of international law when they executed two brothers on death row, even before the disposal of their appeal for clemency, local human rights defenders alleged.

According to Amnesty International Malaysia director Shamini Darshni, international law clearly states that, “executions may not be carried out pending any appeal or other proceeding relating to pardon or commutation of the sentence.”

She noted that the brothers – Rames Batumalai, 45, and Suthar Batumalai, 40, two Malaysian nationals convicted of murder in 2006 – were hanged to death at dawn on Wednesday, two days before their pre-determined date of execution and while their clemency application was yet to be heard.

Haresh Mahadevan, the lawyer representing the brothers, had filed a new application for clemency on Feb 23, which halted their scheduled Feb 24 execution at the last hour. Pending a review of the application, the executions were set for Friday, March 17.

Earlier this week, however, authorities told family members of the two death row inmates that they would be hanged at dawn on Wednesday. Read more →

KUALA LUMPUR, March 15 — Two brothers were hanged to death this morning at the Kajang Prison for their 2010 murder conviction, before the disposal of their petition for clemency.

Rames Batumalai, 45 and Suthar Batumalai, 40 were initially scheduled to be executed on February 24, but the execution was delayed after their family filed the petition the day before.

“International law clearly states that executions may not be carried out pending any appeal or other proceeding relating to pardon or commutation of the sentence,” Amnesty International Malaysia executive director Shamini Darshni said in a statement today. Read more →

Rames and Suthar Batumalai’s family members asked to visit them in prison in view of new execution date set for this Friday.

Amnesty International Malaysia calls for stay of execution of death penalties pending appeal. Pic taken from FMT News.

PETALING JAYA: The reprieve that two brothers on death row had received when their execution was not carried out on Feb 23 as scheduled has proved to be temporary.

Rames and Suthar Batumalai will face the hangman’s noose this Friday, according to Amnesty International Malaysia.

“The family of Rames and Suthar Batumalai were today handed a letter notifying them of the imminent execution and asking them to visit the two at Kajang Prison for the last time tomorrow.

“This is a surprising move considering there is a clemency application pending a decision by the Negri Sembilan Pardons Board. Rames and Suthar must not be executed while there is an appeal pending,” Shamini Darshni Kaliemuthu, Amnesty International Malaysia’s executive director said in a statement.

Rames ad Suthar were sentenced to death in April 2010 under Section 302 of the Penal Code after they were found guilty of murdering Krishnan Raman on Feb 4, 2006. The brothers have maintained their innocence. Read more →

FEBRUARY 24 — The Malaysian Bar has been informed that the execution of brothers Rames Batumalai, 44, and Suthar Batumalai, 39, which had been scheduled to take place at Kajang Prison on February 24, 2017 and was then stayed at the eleventh hour, is now to proceed.

The brothers were sentenced to the mandatory death penalty under Section 302 of the Penal Code in April 2010 after they were found guilty of murder. We do not wish to comment on the merits of the case against them, nor do we condone or excuse the crime for which they were convicted.

The Malaysian Bar abhors and condemns the death penalty, in particular the mandatory death penalty. Sentences imposed on offenders must be proportionate to the gravity of offences committed, for the punishment to be just and effective. However, it is never acceptable for the State to take a life for a life. The act of repaying one act of inhumanity with another is primitive and barbaric. Read more →

FEBRUARY 24 — It has been reported a moment ago, that the appeal by brothers Rames and Suthar Batumalai, 44 and 39 respectively, for a stay of execution pending their application for a royal pardon, has been granted.

They have been granted a temporary reprieve.

Convicted in April 2010 and sentenced to death for a murder committed in 2006, their clemency application was submitted to the Negri Sembilan Pardons Board yesterday.

It was just this past Wednesday, that the family of Rames, 44, and Suthar, 39, were informed that they should visit the brothers for the last time.

It was likely that their execution was scheduled for today.

It is a known practice for executions to be carried out in the wee hours of Friday mornings, following last family visitations.

Their fate now lies in the hands of the Yang di-Pertuan Negri Sembilan.

The death penalty really has no place in the 21st century. Capital punishment, a government sanctioned practice whereby a person is put to death by the state as a punishment for a crime, is based on an archaic concept of “an eye for an eye”. Read more →

KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 23 — Amnesty International Malaysia has urged the government to halt tomorrow’s execution of two brothers found guilty of a murder committed back in 2006 as their lawyer have submitted a clemency application to Negri Sembilan Pardons Board.

In a statement tonight, Amnesty International Malaysia Executive Director Shamini Darshni Kaliemuthu said that the Pardons Board must be given time to review Rames and Suthar Batumalai’s application, and executions can’t be carried out while the appeals are still pending.

“Late last night, we learned that Rames and Suthar were scheduled to be executed in Kajang Prison on Friday morning, which mean they have less than 12 hours to live now. The family is distraught and are appealing to the Yang Di Pertuan Negri Sembilan to spare their lives,” she said.

Shamini said that the family of Rames, 44, and Suthar, 39, were only informed about the execution yesterday. Read more →

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